“Hell yes, she is. Hell yes.” Hill easily deciphered the complement in the man’s query.
Another round of their rich laughter colored the air.
Kraven bumped a fist to Hill’s chest then. “Just like you to come to a wedding with not only one beauty but three.”
“Hey man, I can’t help it if I just attract beautiful ladies.” Hill spread his hands in a gesture of mock defense and joined Kraven for more laughter. “So you’ve seen them? The girls?” He asked once a measure of quiet held between them.
“I have, man. Beauties like I said. Tiny versions of Persephone except for the hair,” Kraven mussed Hill’s riotous locks, laughed and gave a small grimace. “Pike called Quest from your folks place. Q told the rest of us.”
“How’s everybody taking it?” Hill looked askance towards the house.
“About as well as any man could take knowing his wife went along with a plan to keep two kids from their father-” Kraven raised a hand before Hill could interrupt.
“I know there’s more to it. My heart goes out a million bleedin’ times to Persephone, but knowing Darby was okay with something like that makes me, makes all the guys wonder if our wives could resort to similar measures were they to feel…trapped.”
“What’s goin’ on with me and Sef, Kray...it’s a far cry from what you guys have with your wives.”
“Not such a far cry. She loves you, doesn’t she? Did you ever doubt her feelings there?”
“Never.” There was no hesitation for Hill.
Kraven replied with a ‘there you go’ shrug.
“Will you talk to her about it? Darby?”
Kraven shuddered then. “Doubtful. I’m not all that keen to have my teeth smashed in.”
“Understood.” Hill laughed. “But do you think you’ll be able to let it go?”
“I’d like to,” Kraven’s mood turned somber. “I mean...if I couldn’t wouldn’t that mean I didn’t trust her? That’s what she’d think and it’s not even close to being true.”
“I see your point,” Hill grimaced that time.
“And I was just starting to think that marriage meant the end of questions like that.”
“Well I’m no authority Kray, but I believe it should. Don’t you still trust Darby with your life?”
“Christ yes!” Kraven’s response was a fierce whisper. “I love and trust her with everything in me, but I can’t help but wonder if her love and trust for me would push her to do something like that all in the name of protecting me.”
Hill dropped an arm around Kraven’s shoulders as they strolled back towards the palatial gray brick dwelling on the other side of the gravel drive.
“This seems to be a case of the chickens returning to roost.”
Kraven winced over Hill’s observations. “I don’t think they like to be called chickens.”
“We’ll stick with it for lack of a better term. Actually, I think we’re the chickens.”
Kraven arched his brows. “So how are we like chickens returning to roost?”
Hill slowed his steps, let his arm slip from Kraven’s shoulders. “Because we; out of our love for these women who hold our hearts in their hands, have and still would do all manner of things to keep them safe.” Hill gave a half shrug. “I’d say we finally know what it’s like to have the tables turned.”
“Hell…” Kraven looked as though enlightenment had just dawned. “Damn if you’re not right. So how the fuck do men like us deal with shit like that?”
“Kray,” Hill put his arm back around Kraven’s shoulders as they resumed their walk to the house. “You’ll be among the first to know if I ever figure that out.”
“Well would you look at this shit!”
Hill and Kraven turned, grins widening at the sight of Fernando Ramsey headed their way. Laughter was in high supply that day and filled the air yet again as the friends met for a three-way hug.
The laughter eased to make way for silence while the embrace held. Each man recalled the circumstances that had brought them together. The circumstances that had almost ended their lives so often in the past and the ones surrounding their return to each other’s lives. That they were there together clutching in an embrace, was a ‘circumstance’ too surreal for words. Still, Fernando tried when he stepped back to observe Hill.
Hill nodded as he’d done with Kraven. He read the expression that Fernando couldn’t accompany with words. “I know man,” he said.
Suddenly, Kraven clapped his companions’ backs. “Let’s get the fuck inside! I need a goddamn drink!”
Soft chuckling and words of agreement
followed as the trio turned for the house.
CHAPTER
NINETEEN
The evening passed calmly enough with everyone focused on getting settled, scoring a filling meal and much needed sleep to defeat the effects of jet lag. It was a late start to the next morning. With that in mind, the guys had no problem beginning their day with drinks in hand.
“Damn man, the girls’ putting you to work before you even get the honeymoon? My cousin’s a badass alright!”
Male laughter rumbled in good-natured agreement over Quaysar Ramsey’s outlook. The group met in the basement that Smoak had recently turned into his very own man-cave. The guys had trickled in steadily over the last half hour or so. The purpose was to firm up meeting times for that evening’s celebration with the groom.
Caiphus had just shared that he and Bill would leave on an extended trip once they had completely closed the case. Everyone knew that was to be the final chapter in the drama that had colored their families’ lives.
“It was a mutual decision,” Caiphus shared only to receive playful groans of disbelief from his soon-to-be in-laws.
